TODAY: South Ossetia explosion as Russian troops pull out; Georgia denies involvement. Chechnya names street after Putin; Duma may pass bill to help fight on corruption; US denies it is competing with Russia for affections of former Soviet states. Sochi residents forced to leave. An explosion in South Ossetia over the weekend killed seven Russian soldiers. Georgia denies responsibility. President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered a full investigation. Russian peacekeeping forces are in the process of dismantling checkpoints in Georgia, with five days to go before the deadline for troops in buffer zones around the breakaway regions. Compliance with the ceasefire agreement ‘could help get Russia’s longtime bid to join the World Trade Organization back on track’. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking in Kazakhstan, denied that the United States is in a ‘contest for affection’ with Russia over the allegiance of resource-rich former Communist states, saying, ‘We don’t see this as a zero-sum game’. Pro-Kremlin youth groups demonstrated against the US over the weekend, demanding that a US diplomat be tried over a car crash that happened a decade ago. A spokesperson for NASA says it is ‘unseemly’ that the administration could be forced to rely on Russia from 2010-2015 in order to transport astronauts to Star City. Inhabitants of Sochi are reportedly being forced out of their homes to make way for Olympic facilities.